Die-press mechanism.



C. D. McDONALD.

DIE PRESS MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 23. 1911.

Patented July 16, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

C. D. MCDONALD.

DIE PRESS MECHANlSM.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 23. 1911.

IIWEIITOR C512 MJFO A TTOR/VEY CHARLES D. MCDONALD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

DIE-PRESS MECHANISTJI.

narrator.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July ltd, tore.

Application filed April 23, 1917. Serial No. 164,025.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES D. McDon- ALi), a citizen of the United States, residing at-Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,-have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Die-Press Mechanism, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates principally to means for feeding the work across the surface of the fixed die of an automatic diepress, and for centering the work with respect to such die previous to each cutting operation.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a gage or centering member which will position the work with respect to the fixed die in such manner as to have the near side of one cut coincident with the far side of the next adjacent cut, thereby eliminating any Waste of metal by reason of the cuts being separated or spaced apart from one another and a" web ofmaterial left between the cuts.

A further object of the invention is to lift or remove this gage member out of the path of travel of the work after the last out has been made, so as to allow an ejection of the waste from the machine.

A further object of the invention is to provide means which will exert a continuous pulling pressure upon the work to drag it across the die, and to have this pulling force ofsuch degree that when the work is arrested by contact with the gage member, the said pulling means will be capable of a slippage upon the work.

A further object of the invention is to provide means in front for initially feeding the work across the die and into position to be operated upon by secondary feed meansv located beyond the die.

A further object of the invention is to utilize a reciprocating feed bar for the initial feeding operation and to provide compensating means between this feed bar and its actuating member, so as to eliminate bending or mutilating the work in case any excess movement the feel bar.

The invention further consists in the teaes of construction and combination of "cats hereinafter described and claimed.

1 is a front die-press equipped a the drawings:

present invention;

xoinatic p GI the Fig. 2, a detail plan view showing the feed means and gage member;

Fig. 3, a detail showing the work positioned for the first out;

Fig. 4, a detail showing the work positioned for the second cut and the work advanced into thebite of the rear feed rolls;

Fig. 5, an elevation showing a side View of the movable die and ejector ring;

Fig. 6, a bottom face view of said ejector ring Fig. 7, a vertical section through the compensating connection between the feed bar and its actuating means, taken on line 7-7 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 8, a view of the waste strip of work which remains after the cutting operation is complete; and

Fig. 9, a detail section on line 9-9 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring now to the drawings, and particularly to Fig. l, the invention is shown as applied to an automatic press body 9 of any suitable size and arrangement. A main driving shaft 10 actuates, through a suitable connection, a movable die 11, which cooperates with a fixed die 12 to perform the cutting operation. Located upon the far side 13 of the die 12 is a finger or gage it, the edge of which is coincident with the cutting edge of the die, as will be apparent from Figs. 1 and 2.

In the specification and claims, the words near and far will be employed to describe difierent sides of the die, the near side 13 of the die being the side which the work crosses first in passing across the die, and the far side 13 being that side which the work crosses last in passing across the die. That is, the workin passing across the die will move from the near side toward the far side. These terms, however, are descriptive are used because it is thought they will expedite a clear understanding of the mechanism, and are not intended as words of limitation any other respect.

T he gage or finge 1 is pivotally mounted upon a 15 crank 16 jloined i 1?, pivoted n This stub Ill...

. I which "is connected c actuating member arm 22 lieswithin a cam groove formed in the side face of a gear 24 carried by a stub shaft 24. The ear 24 is driven by a gear 24 on a stub sha t 24 carried by an arm 24:.

mined number of revolutions of the drive shaft, such number of revolutions depending on the ratios existing between the gears 24, 24 24 24: and 24. This ratio is such as to cause the cam groove 249 to act and move the cross rod 21 immediately after the last out has been made from the strip of work, thus operating. the gage it to lift it over the web 23 on the tail endof the work, as will be more fully hereinafter brought out.

Located, in the construction shown, beyond the e are feed rolls 25, suitably geared togethei; and driven by a belt 26 from a groove wheel 52?, actuated by the main drive shaft. These feed rolls rotate continuously, and when the worl: has been placed between the bite 'ofsaid rolls, a pulling action is constantly exerted, tending to pull the work across the die. The degree of pulling power of rolls is such as to enable a slippage of the rolls with respect to the surface of the work under c rtain conditions, the purpose of which will hereinafter appear.

Located in front of the die, in the construction is :28, having, as shown, a and a reartooth 30.

' ard tooth 29 bar is coni his nected by a suitable stem or other connecting member 31 to a blocl: 32, which is mountd within a slot 33 on one end of a feed bar llfithin the slot 'is positioned a spring; pressing against the block and tending to normally keep the said block at one end of said slot. The above constitutes a compensating means between the feed and its actuating member, the function of which will subsequently he described. The movable die carries a stripper ring 35 working against a, spring 36, and this stripper ring 1S provided with a cutaway portion orrecess 3? to enable it to straddle the finger or when the movable die descends.

in the operation of the machine, the work is first advanced by the feed bar 28, and through the operation of the forward tooth 29.. This tooth acts to feed the work-into the position shown in Fig. 3-that is, across the fixed die and into engagement withthe gage l-iand when so brought to position, the movable die descends and cuts out a blank. The it this cut, indicated a reciprocating feed by the numeral 39 in Fig. 3, is coincident with the front edge of the strip, an hence after this out has been made, there is an opening at said edge between the waste work upon each side of the strip, as will be apparent from Fig. 8. After this'cuthas been made, the feed baiagain acts, and the rear tooth 3O feeds the work forward until the gage finger 14. strikes the edge l0 upon the near side of the cut last made.

It will be remembered that there was an opening produced upon the far side of the cut. as indicated by the numeral 39. With such an opening. when the work is fed forward. the gage finger 14 will pass through the opening and the work will continue to travel forward until the gage strikes the edge 40 on the near side of the cut. This brings the work to a stop, and as the gagefinger 1a is coincident with the far side of the die, it will follow that the near side of the last out will be brought to rest at a point coincident with the far side of the die. By this time the die has again actedand will cut out the blank as indicated by the numeral 41in 4.

The second movement of the reciprotating been made, there will be an opening formed ence of the feed rolls until the gage finger 1 lstrikes the near side of the last out. This will check the movement of thework, and as'the pulling action of thefeed rolls is less than the retarding action of the gage finger, these rolls will slip upon the waste portion of the worl: after the gage finger has encountered the work, Thus, the movement of the work will be stopped and the work again centered, whereby the near side of the last out will be coincident with the far side of the neat cut, and the strip cut in a manner to leave an opening 39 centrally thereof, as has been explained;

A ter the movable die has been retracted from the fixed die, the feed rolls again act to pull the work forward and the operation aforedescribed is repeated. lln this manner the cuts are made in the work, whereby merely the side edges are left as scrap, as will beunderstood from Fig. 8. -t will be in most cases a practical impossibility to out lot the blanks with sufiicient accuracy so as to make the last out terminate exactly on the rear edge 43 of the blank, and in practically all cases there will be a narrow web left at this rear end;

If the gage finger 14: remained stationary at all times, this rear Web would catch against said finger and prevent the ejectment of the waste from the machine. Therefore, at the completion of the last cut, the cam 24Qacts, through the roller 23, to move the arm 22, rock the shaft 21, raise the bent finger Q0, swing upward the member 19, rocking the stub shaft 18 carrying the arm 17 in the direction of the arrow (Fig. 1), which moves the crank 16 in the direction of the arrow, and will swing the finger 14 upward and out of the path of travel of the work, whereupon the feed rolls 25 will act to draw the waste work entirely put of the machine and eject it into the scrap map.

In feeding the work by the reciprocating feed bar, it may happen, for some reason or other, that the bar would give a greater movement to the work than would be necessary to bring it up against the gage finger 14, and if it struck said finger 14 before the limit of movement of the feed bar was reached, there would be a buckling and bending of the work at one point or another,

which would mutilate the worl: so that it would not feed freely through the machine.

1 overcome this possible diii'iculty by em ploying a compensating or yielding connection between the feed bar and its actuating member 3%. This actuating member is reciprocated by a bell crank lever a l connected to a rod l5. The end of the rod 45 lies in a groove formed in a disk 46 mounted on the shaft 24. Reference is made to Patent No. 970,092 granted September 13, 1910, to C. D, McDonald, for automatic die-press, relative to the operation of this disk l6 and also relative to the changing of time of the shaft 24.

Should it happen that an excess movement be given the actuating member 3% and the feed bar so moved as to cause the work to strike the gage finger lat previous to the termination of the movement of. the feed bar, the striking of ,the work against the gage finger 14 will arrest the movement of the feed bar and place a back pressure thereon, which will be communicated to the block 32; and this block, having encountered a resistance to its'movement with the actuating member 3%, will remain still and the spring 33 Willbe compressed, which will allow of the actuating member E l completing its movement, but without imparting excess movement to the finger bar, In this manner any undesirable conditions resulting from an abnormal movement of the feed bar or a premature engagement of the work with the gage finger 14 will be eliminated, and the danger of mutilation of the work avoided.

I claim:

1. In. an automatic die-press, the combination of a fixed die member, a movable die member, a gage positioned on the far side of the fixed die in alinement with the cutting edge thereof, said gage acting to center the work so that the far side of one out comes into alinement with the near side of the preceding cut and the work entirely cut away at a point centrally between the cuts, said gage being positioned in alinement with said cut-away parts, whereby the work may be fed past said gage without movement of the latter, means for automatically moving the gage after the last cut has been made out of the path of travel of the work toenable the web at the end of the work to pass by the gage and the scrap work ejected from the machine, and means forfeeding the work through the machine and out therefrom, substantially as described.

2. in an automatic die-press, the combina tion of a fixed die member, a movable die member, a gage in the form of a pivoted finger positioned on the far side of the fixed die in alinement with the cutting edge, said gage acting to center the work so that the far side of one cut comes into alinement with the near side of the preceding cut and the wort: entirely cut away at a point centrally between the cuts, said gage being positioned alinement with said cut-away parts, whereby the Work may be fed past said gage without movement of the latter, means for automatically rocking said finger after the last out has been made to move it out of the path of travel of the Work and enable the web at the end of the work to pass by said gageand the scrap work ejected from the machine, and means for feeding the work through the machine and out therefrom, substantially as described.

3. In an automatic die-press, the combination of a lined die member, a movable die member, a gage in the form of a pivoted finger positioned on the far side of the lined die in alinement with the cutting edge, said gage acting to center the work so that the far side of one cut comes into alinement with the near side of the preceding cut and the work entirely cut away at a point centrally between the cuts, said gag-e being positioned in alinement with said cut-away parts, "whereby the worlr may be fed past said without movement of the latter, a of links and levers operatively connected to said finger. and means acting automatically when a predetermined number of cuts have been made to move said linlrs and levers and raise the finger to enable the web at the of the work to pass by the game and the s 'r work ejected from the machine, and

means for feeding the work through the machine and out therefrom, substantially as described.

4. In an automatic die-press, the combination of a fixed die member, a movable die member, a gage positioned on the far side of the fixed. die in alinement with the cutting edge, said gage acting to center the work so that the far side of one cut comes into alinement with the near. side of the preceding cut and the work entirely cut away at a point centrally between the cuts, said gage being positioned in alinement with said cut-away parts, whereby the work may be fed past said gage without movement of the latter, reciprocating feed means for moving the work across the fixed die member and into contact with the gage, and resilient means interposed in the feed means to allow said feed means to give in case the work is brought into contact with the gage prior to the completion of the stroke of the feed member, whereby buckling of the work by pressure of the feed means after the work hascome into contact with the gage is prevented, substantially described.

5. In an automatic die-press, the combina tion of a fixed die member, a movable die member, a gage member adapted to engage and center the work prior to each cutting operation, reciprocating teed means tor moving the work across the fixed die mem ber and through the machine, a resilient means interposed in the feed means to allow said feed means to give in case the work is brought into contact with the gage prior to the completion of the stroke of the feed means, whereby buckling of the work'by pressure of the feed means-after the work has been brought into contact with the gage is prevented, substantially as described.

6. In an automatic die-press, the combination of a fixed die member, a movable die member, a gage member adapted to contact the work and center it prior to each cut.- ting operation, means for feeding the work through the machine, comprising a reciprocating feed bar, an actuating member for said bar, and a resilient connection between the actuating member and feed bar allowing the bar to give in case the work is brought into contact with the gage prior to the completion of the stroke of said bar, whereby buckling of the work by pressure of the feed means after the work has contacted the gage is prevented, substantially as described.

CHARLES D. MODONALD. 

